Do Headlines Cause You to Take Action?
Takeaways from a smattering of the headlines across a wide range of news sources in 2022 and early 2023.
Fantasy Football and Financial Planning: What is your strategy?
Category: Investing » Foster Group Investment Principles
Making good decisions and ultimately avoiding costly mistakes can be life-changing. Note that it does not start and end with picking the best player or hot stock but rather goals and a plan.
Increasing ROI: Return of the Investor – YOU! | Financial Perspectives (In a Minute)
Category: Investing » Active Management
What investor wouldn't like to have a little more return? This week, Kent Kramer breaks down the average investor return calculation and the options you may have to be better than average.
A Financial Advisor’s Morning Routine: Why I Broke Up With “Breaking News”
Being informed without getting drawn into every breaking news story that touches the economy, markets, or business. Doing well with money isn't necessarily about what you know but rather, how you behave.
Chart of the Month – June 2023
This year’s stock market narrative is a tale of two markets. On one side, a handful of prominent technology companies is flourishing while on the other side, everything else is struggling to keep up. Here we will assess the data.
Conventional Wisdom & The Fed | Financial Perspectives (In a Minute)
Conventional wisdom is quoted often in news reporting about everything from the economy and markets to sports and politics. This week, Kent Kramer looks at current conventional wisdom regarding markets and the economy.
Navigating the Course of Retirement Planning
Category: Investing » Foster Group Investment Principles
Like in golf, planning for retirement is a game that requires strategy, focus, and a bit of finesse.
ChatGPT & The Big 8 | Financial Perspectives
With the biggest tech companies regaining stock market leadership, it’s understandable why investors and the media are attracted to these stocks. However, it’s tempting to forget how these same companies’ stock prices performed in 2022. This week, Kent Kramer shares some investment lessons to be learned from this AI/big tech story.
Baseball and Investing: Managing Behavior for Success
Money is emotional and our “news” cycle is a catalyst. Investors react to what they hear and how they feel, oftentimes to their own detriment.
Running to Retirement
Category: Investing » Foster Group Investment Principles
Stay diversified, and stay the course. That’s good advice for both runners and investors.
What Did You Expect? | Financial Perspectives (In a Minute)
"Everything good in life is just the gap between expectations and reality." - Morgan Housel. This week, Kent Kramer shares his thoughts on market history and setting expectations.
Poker Lessons. Expect to Be Surprised. | Financial Perspectives
Poker is great training ground for evaluating circumstances where you may have enough information to know the odds of success or failure, but not enough information to guarantee the outcome -- a lot like investing. This week, Kent Kramer looks at how understanding odds and probability can help make sense of elections and investment markets.
Chart of the Month – Nov 2022
The past fifteen years have been phenomenal for U.S. stocks. They've outperformed international stocks by close to 200%. Unfortunately, no one can predict when international stocks will outperform U.S. stocks, or vice-versa.
Financial Risks That Are Not in the News
Stock market risk is the primary focus of the financial news. The reason is simple. The scarier the headline, the more eyes are attracted to it.
Three Categories of Risk for Retirement Income
Category: Investing » Foster Group Investment Principles
Risks can often feel much different to retirees. The overarching risk for retirees is that something takes place that results in a permanently lower standard of living. Retirement researcher, Wade Pfau, has identified three major categories of risk for one’s income in retirement.
“60% of the Time, It Works Every Time.”
“But it’s different this time!” I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard this over the years. While it is true that the set of circumstances driving the market are always unique, the end result is almost always the same.
Webinar: Making Your Own Path Through Election Year Financial Markets
There's always concern and uncertainty present in election years. Predicting the markets impact of potential political transition isn't easy for anyone. With inflation rising, it's understandable to be concerned. Is there another way to think about the unknown?
How Much Should I Have in Stocks? | Financial Perspectives
Category: Investing » Foster Group Investment Principles
Many people like the idea of higher expected returns that stocks may produce, but the higher return potential comes with more risk. This week, Kent Kramer walks us through a possible approach to understanding how much of your portfolio could be invested in stocks.
How Much Should I Have in Stocks? | Financial Perspectives (In a Minute)
Category: Investing » Foster Group Investment Principles
Many people like the idea of higher expected returns that stocks may produce, but the higher return potential comes with more risk. This week, Kent Kramer walks us through a possible approach to understanding how much of your portfolio could be invested in stocks.
Having Faith When It’s Scary
Market volatility can sometimes be downright scary. The other day, I read that the quarter ending June 30th was the 16th worst quarter in the history of the stock market. Even worse, the first quarter was bad too, making it one of the very worst six-month periods in nearly a century. How does an investor respond?
Is Now a Good Time to Invest? | Financial Perspectives (In a Minute)
A popular question investors often ask is whether NOW is a good time to invest. This week, Kent Kramer talks about what is happening in markets now, and in the past, and what investors may want to know.